Archive for the 'For Buyers' Category
Incentives To Buy Homes Now Keep Coming
August 23rd, 2010 categories: Chicago Info/News, Economic Recovery, For Buyers, Mortgage Info
It’s easy to get down on today’s residential housing market. Home values are down. Foreclosures are up. Sales are sluggish.
But all of these factors, which make selling a condominium or single-family home today so challenging, make this a great time to buy a home in Chicago.
The Illinois Association of REALTORS® reported that the median sales price of Chicago homes stood at $230,000 in the second quarter of this year. That’s an extremely affordable price for Chicago. And by taking out an FHA loan, buyers here only have to come up with a down payment of 3.5 percent of a home’s purchase price.
At the same time, inventory levels are high. Buyers have a lot from which to choose when it comes to buying condominiums or single-family homes in some of the city’s top neighborhoods, like Lincoln Park, Ravenswood, Lakeview, Lincoln Square and Streeterville.
Then there’s the news regarding mortgage interest rates. According to the latest numbers from Freddie Mac, the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan stood at an amazing 4.42 percent for the week ended Aug. 19. The rate for the average 15-year fixed-rate loan hit 3.90 percent. Both rates were down from the previous week, and down from the same period one year earlier. This means that buyers today can get more home for their dollars.
Even the high number of foreclosures in Chicago and the rest of the country can mean good news for buyers. When banks and other lending institutions have to re-sell their foreclosures, they usually do so at a greatly reduced price. Again, this gives buyers the opportunity to purchase homes for fewer dollars. Some buyers might purchase a foreclosure to be able to get into a neighborhood that they otherwise could not have afforded.
No one’s arguing that this is a difficult time in which to sell a home. But for first-time buyers and any others who don’t have to first sell a residence, this is a great time to buy.
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July 15th, 2010 categories: Chicago Info/News, Chicago Neighborhoods, For Buyers, Green Homes
What do homebuyers in Chicago want? They’re searching for quality homes at fair prices. They want to live close to public transportation. They want good schools and plenty of nearby shopping and dining choices.
And, increasingly, they want green homes.
This search for environmentally friendly homes is finally getting a bit easier. CLTV’s Web site recently ran a story on the changes being made by Chicago’s MRED, a local multiple listing service of homes for sale.
Late last year, the MRED listing service gave REALTORS® the ability to add nearly two dozen green or energy efficient features with their property listings. According to the CLTV story, these features can include anything from drought-resistant landscaping to low-flow plumbing fixtures to bamboo flooring.
This is good news for Chicago buyers who are looking for green features. They can now find these environmentally friendly amenities listed prominently on many of the home listings they view online.
This move is something that officials from the National Association of REALORS® are happy to see. The CLTV story says that they’d like to see all the nation’s multiple listing services do this. Currently, according to one association official quoted in the story, from 30 to 40 of the services allow their REALTORS® to enter green and energy efficiency data in their home listings. That’s not a lot of services when you consider how many dot the country.
I don’t think it will be much longer, though, before we see an increase in green information on home listings. The reason is a simple one: It’s something more buyers are looking for.
I’m not naïve enough to believe that environmentally friendly features will trump price, location and construction quality. But a growing number of my clients are interested in living in homes that are environmentally friendly. If they’re looking at two houses that are mostly equal, these clients will go with the home that boasts the greener features.
Here’s some advice to the sellers out there: If your home does have some nice green features, advertise them prominently. In today’s tough residential real estate market, sellers need every advantage that they can get. Green features are just one more tool they can use to help move their homes.
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Residential Real Estate Continues Move To Hi-Tech
June 16th, 2010 categories: Chicago Info/News, For Buyers, For Sellers, Technology
There was a time when critics claimed that REALTORS® were afraid of technology. I don’t know anyone making this claim now.
REALTORS®, in fact, have embraced technology as much as have any sales professionals. Search the Web and you’ll find pages of blogs written by REALTORS®. Search the MLS online and you’ll find a growing number of condominium and single-family home listings that have virtual tours attached to them.
And if you ever see a REALTOR® hustling to a showing, you’ll undoubtedly notice a smart phone clutched in this professional’s hand.
REALTORS® are married to technology. Of course, this was inevitable; home buyers and sellers are the same way.
The Chicago Tribune recently ran a feature story on the changing ways in which consumers buy and sell houses.
The most interesting fact in the Tribune story is this: 90 percent of consumers are going online to help find their homes, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.
For sellers, this is an important stat. They absolutely have to list their homes prominently online if they want to compete for buyers in today’s market. And it’s not just about listing a home on the Multiple Listing Service any more. Sellers need to showcase their homes with virtual tours. They need the written copy describing their homes to contain the right keywords to attract potential buyers. And they need lots of photos to accompany their online listings.
It makes sense, then, for sellers to work with tech-savvy REALTORS® who boast busy Web sites and who write well-trafficked blogs. These are the REALTORS® in today’s online marketplace who will attract the most potential buyers for sellers’ homes.
I still remember the days when online marketing was in its infancy. At that time, no one was quite sure how to best spotlight residential real estate on the Web. Today, it’s amazing how far we’ve all come. Just count how many “FOR SALE” signs boast a separate Web site address that’s unique to that particular property being sold.
It’s a new world today. And in a slow market like this one, it’s crucial for sellers to take full advantage of all the marketing opportunities that the Internet provides them.
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April Was Another Big Month For Chicago Home Sales
June 3rd, 2010 categories: Chicago Info/News, Economic Recovery, For Buyers, For Sellers, Housing Market
April marked the eighth straight month in which Chicago home sales showed an increase, according to the Illinois Association of REALTORS®. Housing industry analysts, though, are wondering if April’s big showing was largely the result of the impending expiration of the federal government’s home-buying tax credits.
Both the first-time homebuyers’ credit – which provided first-time buyers a tax credit of up to $8,000 – and the move-up buyers’ credit – which gavemost other buyers a tax credit of up to $6,500 – expired at midnight on April 30. This has led economists and housing experts to wonder if buyers across the nation were in a race to beat this deadline.
And if that’s the case, they add, the housing sales numbers in May and beyond might suffer with no tax credit to inspire buyers.
Personally, I can’t deny that both tax credits have played a large role in encouraging buyers to enter the Chicago market. But I think that the city’s affordable housing prices have played as important a role. Buyers know that they can purchase a condominium or single-family home in even the best neighborhoods of Chicago, places like Lakeview, Lincoln Square or Lincoln Park, at extremely reasonable prices.
Whatever the case, you can’t deny that April’s sales numbers were strong ones. The sales of single-family homes and condominiums rose 41.1 percent in April when compared to the same month one year earlier. The city saw 1,985 housing sales in the month compared to 1,407 in April of 2009.
The best news is that housing sales have been trending up for quite some time now. April marked the eighth consecutive month in which housing sales showed a year-over-year sales gain.
At the same time, there was a glimmer of good news regarding Chicago housing prices. The city median sales price in April stood at $225,000. That’s up 3.2 percent from a year ago, when the median sales price had fallen to $218,000.
These are all solid numbers, and I’m glad to see them. I’m sure the tax credits did play a role in them. But I also think that buyers recognize just how good a value Chicago homes are today.
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Wall Street Journal: Housing Prices Won’t Rise Anytime Soon
April 29th, 2010 categories: Chicago Info/News, Economic Recovery, For Buyers, For Homeowners, For Sellers
If you’re a home seller waiting for the median sales prices of condominiums and single-family homes to rise in Chicago and the rest of the nation, you might be waiting for a while, at least according to a Wall Street Journal study of the country’s residential real estate market.
The Journal’s most recent quarterly survey of housing-market conditions in 28 metropolitan areas found that inventories of homes for sale remain quite high in many big cities, including in Chicago. At the same time, the number of distressed buyers who face potential foreclosures also remains high in many cities.
This combination is a perfect recipe for keeping housing prices at their current affordable levels. When buyers have many homes from which to choose, they don’t have to overpay to land their dream home. When more homes fall into foreclosure, it tends to drag down the asking prices of other residences in the surrounding neighborhood. After all, it’s not easy to ask $300,000 for a condo when the neighbor’s place, in foreclosure, is selling for $220,000.
While this is bad news for sellers, it’s the opposite for buyers. They can still find high-quality homes in Chicago for prices that are more than fair.
The Wall Street Journal forecast specifically mentions Chicago, saying that our city is similar to places like Charlotte, N.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Nashville; and Philadelphia: The supply of homes already on the market is far higher than the national average.
Again, this is good news for buyers. It means that they have plenty of good homes to chose from in Chicago.
The local housing market is in a solid recovery. But the number of sales is increasing faster than is the median sales price of homes. This means that sellers have a choice to make: If they don’t have to sell, they might want to wait a year or more in the hope that housing prices will rise. If they do need to sell, they have to commit to working with their REALTORS® to find the right price for their home in this market.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW PROPERTIES NOT YET ON THE MARKET.
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